I know most of you wouldn't imagine there would be much room for relaxation while on a cross-country bike trip, but our time in Florida truly proved that it is absolutely possible! We left the fog and dampness of Big Lagoon/ Pensacola (I think it was just unlucky for us, as everyone claimed that the weather is usually beautiful there!) and rode through Pensacola and along the Gulf Coast for a while. Neither of us were too impressed with this section, altho there were some stunningly large, atrocious houses to gawk at along the way. We completed our days ride by 2 in the afternoon, even after a stop at Waffle House for lunch! This stop was pretty exemplary of the treatment we have received along the way - when we walked in in our bike garb, we were greeted by stares of curiosity, followed by questions about what we are doing, how far we're going, and most importantly, WHY!?!? The waitresses was very excited to have us as customers and even more excited that they were our first Waffle House stop ever, which was pretty much a crime in their minds. :) We were personally welcomed by the regional manager and made to feel a bit like celebrities, which is odd when you are clad in head to toe spandex and covered in sweat and bike grease! After arriving at Blackwater River State Park, we promptly headed to the shallow river to wash away the day's grime. The water was so clear, which was definitely a good thing, as we were told there are occasionally alligators seen there (but not to worry, of course), so at least we would see them coming...
The next days ride took us to the first of the springs in Florida that we would seek out to spend our afternoons in. This was a private campground, but had the most clear water (and COLD too!) we had ever seen. It also had catfish and coy the size of us, which made me a little uneasy! Over the next few days, we kept up the general routine of riding ~50 miles/day, having a nice, long lunch stop at a public library to use the internet, read magazines, etc, and arriving at our destination by 2-3, leaving us plenty of time to swim, hike/walk and read. It was hard to adjust to this 'slow' of a cycling routine, but after a few days we grew to love it! We ran into some more cyclists, the first in a while. One was a German/Swiss German guy about our age, cycling alone and I think totally eager for some company, so we invited him to join us in our campsite that night. He had some great tips for our leg of the journey in Europe, and it was fun to share stories with someone else.
We had our 2nd WarmShowers.org experience in Tallahassee, staying with an architect and physics professor, and their son. They were a very 'neat' family, in that EVERY holiday they took was on a bike, mostly in France, even when their son was only a baby! They were extremely hospitable and we joined them for dinner and breakfast, just like we were part of the family. The following night we had another host lined up in Monticello, at an old goat farm, where we were treated to our own 'guest apartment', the most comfortable bed we have slept on the whole trip, and Chinese take out and good conversation with Diane, a lawyer who had traveled the world extensively with water and sanitation projects with the government. We also avoided another big thunder and lightening storm and more tornado warnings, so we were pleased that out timing worked out so well!
The following day we rode through a town called Madison, right around lunch time and decided we were due for a lunch out. Luckily we pursued past the usual fare of fast food restaurants and stumbled upon a local fair, with BBQ stands and typical fair food. After having our ears talked off for what felt like an hour by a local historian who wanted to practice a verbal version of his 700 page book that he was in the process of writing, we were finally free to roam the food stalls to find something suitable! We were also told by Mr. Historian that the local paper would probably love to write an article about an Australian/Oregonian couple cycling across the county and coming thru Madison, but we politely declined our only opportunity for fame in this town of 3000 residents. :) We settled on one of the best pulled pork sandwiches we'd had yet, and lima beans for lunch - very southern and so delicious! Matt, a staunch bean hater, rated them as the 2nd best beans he'd ever eaten (after Sal's mexican beans in Austin, TX) and was ready to go back for more! We spent that evening camping by another spring, where we were able to sit in the bubbling opening to the springs like a jacuzzi (a jacuzzi with frogs and other gross things tho!).
We headed off early the next morning to get to our destination as early as possible, as we had been hearing about it for the past several days. It was another spring, called Ichetucknee Springs, where it was rumored that you can hire tubes and float down a 7 mile section of the springs. When we arrived, we found out that the 'tubing' season didn't start until Memorial Day weekend, which we were several weeks ahead of, and therefore you could only tube 1/2 of it, and had to transport yourself to the start, which was 7 miles away from the tube rental. We thought of all the ways we could get ourselves, our bikes and our tubes to the start, and concluded that it was wasn't possible... :( however, for a bit more money of course, we could hire a kayak instead and they would transport us there and back, and we would be able to float/paddle the whole section. This turned out to be an amazing way to spend the afternoon - floating down a completely empty, pristine spring with water so clear you could see everything you floated past, soaking up the hot sun in our swim suits, trying to get ride of our horrible cycling tan lines! We saw turtles, fish, otters and lots of birds before we joined up with where the tubers started, and then wildlife was few and far between due to the screams and splashing of the local rednecks floating down the river. We did kind of wish we were one of them...
Our next 2 nights were that of even great luxury, in a hotel in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators. We had intended to spend just 1 night, but decided on arrival that it looked like a cool place to spend some extra time. Getting into town was fabulously easy, riding on bike paths almost the entire way to our hotel. The only exception was when we thought we were on the wrong path, so we doubled back to a McDonald's to use their free WIFI. We were standing outside, near the drive thru exit, on our expensive bikes, looking like respectable tourists, or so we thought.....when a woman, who in our opinion looked to be much worse off than even we are, pulled out of the drive thru and yelled over to us 'Do you need some change? I've got some coins right here', and reached into her center console to hand us some money!! Maybe we should've taken advantage of her generosity, but we both declined her offer. We spent our day off in Gainsville walking about 10 miles across town, around the campus and to a library to take care of some 'business' on the internet. It was so hot and humid out we had to duck into buildings periodically to cool off and dry off. It would continue to be this hot for much of the rest of our time in Florida.
The day that we left Gainsville, we rode to East Palatka, which was our last day on the Adventure Cycling route!! East Palatka was an absolute hole of a place, and we camped on a sloping piece of ground covered with weeds and infested with mosquitos and no-see-ums. We spent the afternoon reading in the tent, ducking out quickly to cook dinner, and then retreating to the tent to eat and play cards. We were anxious to leave in the morning! We were headed south to a small town called Astor, to stay with friends of my aunt/uncle/cousin from Juneau, Alaska, who had graciously offered to host 2 dirty, virtual strangers.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Just a reminder
Just a little reminder for those who said they would add a little cash to our small fundraiser. The links to our sites are -
Australian Red Cross:
http://www.redcrossfundraising.org.au/alisonandmattcycleusa
USA Red Cross:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/alisonandmatt/cycle-usa-1
(For those patriotic Australians I think that the US website is ahead in its fundraising efforts....and the Aussie dollar is worth more than the US dollar at the moment!)
Australian Red Cross:
http://www.redcrossfundraising.org.au/alisonandmattcycleusa
USA Red Cross:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/alisonandmatt/cycle-usa-1
(For those patriotic Australians I think that the US website is ahead in its fundraising efforts....and the Aussie dollar is worth more than the US dollar at the moment!)
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Getting back on track
After a fun-filled 3 day lay-over in New Orleans (Thanks again to our fabulous hosts Mel, Carolyn, Isabel and Maddie!) we were in serious need of hitting the road again before we mistakenly thought that we could continue to drink like college students for more than 2 nights in a row! And after having only ridden 3 out of 7 days in the previous week, we had to get our butts used to the seat again, and our legs used to peddaling. A new addition to my (Alison's) complaints is a nasty poison ivy/oak/sumac rash on my butt, waist and thigh. I'm assuming it's the result of squatting on it while peeing on the side of the road at some point...classy! Apparently it can take weeks to subside, but thankfully the itching only wakes me up about 2-3 times/night now, rather than 5-6.
Anyways, we had an ambitious first day of cycling 89 miles to a town called Livingston that we were hoping would have some sort of cheap accommodation. It was a reasonable sized dot on the map, so it seemed likely. However, we found out that the 'campground' did not accept tents (that is the way of the US these days it seems...camping is now driving something as large as your house to a different town and watching TV inside), so were at a bit of a loss. I asked in a gas station about a hotel and found out that we were only 7 miles from a hotel, which wasn't a terrible option, but then a woman waiting in line overheard me and offered her backyard to camp in. Once again, we were so lucky to meet such a generous person with a nice yard and a hot shower for us!
The next day we rode only 45 miles to rejoin the ACA route in Easleyville and ran into a group of 8 cyclists, a self-organised group of both friends and strangers. We were informed that a huge storm was coming through anytime from the next hour to 5 hours, so we all decided to camp at the community park/campground for the night. The highlight of the day was a swim in a 'bayou' (aka swamp) that may or may not have had alligators or other disgusting things in it, but was the perfect temperature for a hot day, and I figured that out of 4 of us in the water, what were the chances that it would get me?? The storm didn't hit until nearly 6pm that night, but we were glad not to be out on the road! We spent the night sleeping on the concrete ground of a covered patio, and awoke to a cool, but beautiful and sunny morning. The best part about the rain in the Southeast is that 1) it cools everything down, 2) it gets the pollen out of the air so my allergies aren't out of control and 3) it actually makes the air less humid, believe it or not!
We rode into Mississippi the next day, towards Poplarville, where we had organised our first Warm Showers stay with Steven, which was fantastic! We were greeted with freshly baked homemade pizzas, a double bed, our own bathroom for the night and homebrewed beer. Seriously fantastic! The next morning we had scrambled eggs, fresh from their own chickens - total luxury. Riding through Mississippi though proved to be our least favourite state, which was a disappointment. Partly our route was to blame, as we didn't go through any other towns, and the route was just plain boring. Long roads of all the same scenery. The best part about it, we both agreed, was the breakfast we had at a greasy spoon cafe in Vancleave, where Matt had a plate of biscuits and gravy the size of his head (this is a meal that will take 10 years off your life!) and I had an omelete with all kinds of meat and cheese inside - it was delicious! But a once in a lifetime sort of meal I hope, as I really don't want to lose another 10 years of life... So other than 1 great breakfast and a good host, we were happy to cross into Alabama for our brief stint of 1 night. We rode over a 3 mile long bridge to Dauphin Island, where we arrived in time to relax and enjoy ourselves for the evening with a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. Hmm...maybe that's another couple of years gone already?? We were excited for beaches and pictured the island to be a bit like Rottnest (a shout out to all you WA folks!), so we were again disappointed that the water was brown, surrounded by oil drilling vessels and everything was developed. Regardless, we had a nice evening and caught the ferry to the other side of the Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores, Alabama the next morning. The 45 mile ride along the coast to our current destination was nice, although almost all of it was developed in strip-mall fashion, with hi-rise hotels and apartment buildings lining the coast, so we haven't actually really seen the beach yet. The big news is that we crossed into Florida yesterday, midway along all of the aforementioned sprall, and are now in our last state for the bike trip!!! We are having a day off camping at Big Lagoon State Park, planning to have a swim in the lagoon today (again, hopefully it is alligator free!) and otherwise just relax. Tomorrow we will ride through Pensacola to another state park, and then continue our journey east. As we have actually allowed ourselves WAY too much time for this trip, we are slowing down quite a lot and looking for detours - so if anyone has any suggestions to detour in Florida, please let us know!!
Anyways, we had an ambitious first day of cycling 89 miles to a town called Livingston that we were hoping would have some sort of cheap accommodation. It was a reasonable sized dot on the map, so it seemed likely. However, we found out that the 'campground' did not accept tents (that is the way of the US these days it seems...camping is now driving something as large as your house to a different town and watching TV inside), so were at a bit of a loss. I asked in a gas station about a hotel and found out that we were only 7 miles from a hotel, which wasn't a terrible option, but then a woman waiting in line overheard me and offered her backyard to camp in. Once again, we were so lucky to meet such a generous person with a nice yard and a hot shower for us!
The next day we rode only 45 miles to rejoin the ACA route in Easleyville and ran into a group of 8 cyclists, a self-organised group of both friends and strangers. We were informed that a huge storm was coming through anytime from the next hour to 5 hours, so we all decided to camp at the community park/campground for the night. The highlight of the day was a swim in a 'bayou' (aka swamp) that may or may not have had alligators or other disgusting things in it, but was the perfect temperature for a hot day, and I figured that out of 4 of us in the water, what were the chances that it would get me?? The storm didn't hit until nearly 6pm that night, but we were glad not to be out on the road! We spent the night sleeping on the concrete ground of a covered patio, and awoke to a cool, but beautiful and sunny morning. The best part about the rain in the Southeast is that 1) it cools everything down, 2) it gets the pollen out of the air so my allergies aren't out of control and 3) it actually makes the air less humid, believe it or not!
We rode into Mississippi the next day, towards Poplarville, where we had organised our first Warm Showers stay with Steven, which was fantastic! We were greeted with freshly baked homemade pizzas, a double bed, our own bathroom for the night and homebrewed beer. Seriously fantastic! The next morning we had scrambled eggs, fresh from their own chickens - total luxury. Riding through Mississippi though proved to be our least favourite state, which was a disappointment. Partly our route was to blame, as we didn't go through any other towns, and the route was just plain boring. Long roads of all the same scenery. The best part about it, we both agreed, was the breakfast we had at a greasy spoon cafe in Vancleave, where Matt had a plate of biscuits and gravy the size of his head (this is a meal that will take 10 years off your life!) and I had an omelete with all kinds of meat and cheese inside - it was delicious! But a once in a lifetime sort of meal I hope, as I really don't want to lose another 10 years of life... So other than 1 great breakfast and a good host, we were happy to cross into Alabama for our brief stint of 1 night. We rode over a 3 mile long bridge to Dauphin Island, where we arrived in time to relax and enjoy ourselves for the evening with a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. Hmm...maybe that's another couple of years gone already?? We were excited for beaches and pictured the island to be a bit like Rottnest (a shout out to all you WA folks!), so we were again disappointed that the water was brown, surrounded by oil drilling vessels and everything was developed. Regardless, we had a nice evening and caught the ferry to the other side of the Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores, Alabama the next morning. The 45 mile ride along the coast to our current destination was nice, although almost all of it was developed in strip-mall fashion, with hi-rise hotels and apartment buildings lining the coast, so we haven't actually really seen the beach yet. The big news is that we crossed into Florida yesterday, midway along all of the aforementioned sprall, and are now in our last state for the bike trip!!! We are having a day off camping at Big Lagoon State Park, planning to have a swim in the lagoon today (again, hopefully it is alligator free!) and otherwise just relax. Tomorrow we will ride through Pensacola to another state park, and then continue our journey east. As we have actually allowed ourselves WAY too much time for this trip, we are slowing down quite a lot and looking for detours - so if anyone has any suggestions to detour in Florida, please let us know!!
Y'all ride dem bikes to N'awlins
In case you hadn't noticed already the last two blogs were posted around the wrong way...that is "Alpine to Austin" should be before "Central to Eastern Texas"
So it was a day of mixed emotions leaving the comforts of Texas that we had grown used to over the past two weeks as we entered Louisiana. This also meant that we would begin to explore a new state and get to experience the "real south." You would think that there was a transition between the cultures as you entered the new state but it felt as though the differences were apparent immediately. There were seasonal flowers blooming everywhere that brought with it itchy eyes and runny noses. Unfortunately Alison suffered more from hayfever than myself. The air thickened with moisture in such a way that the slight movement of changing gears brought with it a rush of sweat from volcanic pores that had, up until this point, remained relatively dorment. Accents became thicker and at times difficult to understand. Vegetation and life sprung from every crevice and insects began to appear and bite. You know there are going to be interesting roads ahead when they need to be mowed more than they need a resurface. Perhaps Texas had made us a little soft, or perhaps that was just all the Blue Bell ice-cream we had consumed.
DeRidder was our first place to stay in Louisiana. It was a quaint town with the architecture beginning to show the signs of the various European (French, English and Spanish) influences that seems prominent through this part of the South. The following day we woke to the humidity and begun to pack up our damp things, acknowledging this would be the norm for the remainder of our trip. We continued our ride through many country roads with minimal traffic and minimal signs of road maintenance. The foilage was thick and the wild flowers romantisized the experience. It was relatively easy riding given that there was not too many hills to tackle. We passed through rice and/or crawfish fields (they would alternate the use of these fields) and entered the heart of Cajun territory near the town of Mamou. Cajun as we would learn comes from shortening/slurring of the term Acadian, which was used to describe the unwanted French who were relocated here from Nova Scotia some time in the 1700's. It was in a doughnut shop that we were informed that the famous Cajun cuisine was adapted more from the slaves used in the region and that this style of cooking (she referred to as Creole) was more spicy and flavourful. Regardless Alison and I were keen to sample all types of dishes, just as soon as we finished eating the half dozen or so doughnuts we had just bought.
We continued onward along old farm roads through many cute little communities, many of the streets still covered with Mardi Gras beads. Eventually, after making a wrong turn costing us an extra five mile or so, we came to our camp ground on the banks of a Bayou in Washington, LA. The check-in for the camping was a bar and somehow instead of paying our fees (which we would pay later) we found ourselves talking to the proprietor and drinking a beer. The place to eat in town was the Steamboat Warehouse (it was also the only restaurant) and we enjoyed our first Cajun meal. It was delicious! We ate catfish, gumbo, loaded potatoes and Cajun spiced pork chops. It was a good thing that we cycled 90 plus miles that day. We decided to add on a stroll that evening through the streets with some of the nicest colonial houses we had seen.
Reluctantly, the following day we had to leave but we were happy to find many similar communities lay ahead. One interesting comparison is that instead of the communities being called Counties they were now called Parishes. The reasons were becoming more evident as in some places there seemed to be more Churches than housing, each with their own notice board and message. We eventually came to Simmesport. Unfortunately this parish was not as affluent as some of the others we were in, as we were told by a local shop assistant. His views were a little closed as he continued in a rather racist manner describing why the parish was such a bad place to live. As soon as we could leave him to his thoughts we settled on the outskirts of town in a community park where cross-country cyclists tend to camp. Having a fair bit of time to waste we started our evening grazing. I am not sure how it came about but Alison decided to add 8 pieces of Southern fried chicken to our usual large serving of dinner. It was great to eat but the salt content was rather high. We ended up drinking about 4 litres of water so we wouldn't turn into raisins. The next day we would proceed to relieve our selves of this extra fluid as we continued toward the Mississippi River.
The river was high and dirty. I was almost expecting Huckelberry Finn to go floating past. We waited with commuters for the ferry to cross to the Eastern side of the river. On the other side fo the river we had a short road in to the town of St Francisville. We decided to have an early splurge for Alison's birthday here and it seemed like there could be no better place to enjoy a rest day. The cotton plantation industry has long since dried up in these regions but their huge mansions and houses remain. We stayed in a bed and breakfast close to town so that we could enjoy walks around town and bike rides out (that right we road around 30 miles or so on our days off) to the newly refurbished plantations. It would not quite be a true indulgence without good food. St Francisville did not disappoint. We had an awesome meal at a place called 8 Sisters (opened initially by, you guessed it, 8 sisters) and returned the following day for a repeat. Our breakfasts at our accommodation were also second to none and it was great to have something different to rolled oats. This also provided a great place to plan our next stage of the ride.
As our route does not take us to New Orleans, and this is certainly a place we were keen to visit, we had to find out how to get there. The route we took was to re-cross the Mississippi and follow the western banks then to cross once again as we neared the outskirts of New Orleans. The main impetus was to bypass Baton Rouge that has a bad reputation for being bike unfriendly, or so we had heard. The only sour note was that the route was going to add around 300miles on to our current tally. Our halfway point on the western bank was Donaldsonville. The ride was quite pleasant and the roads we researched were relatively quiet. For a small three-four mile portion there was some roadworks that forced us to hitch a ride in a utility vehicle to pass. As we neared our destination the skies began to darken to the east and rain began to fall. There was a huge storm threatening to unleash at any moment. We managed to pull in to a small motel on the north side of Donalsonville just as the rain turned in to a waterfall and the sky began unleash in a fury of lightning attacks. It was here that we would wait out a storm for a day or so.
Refreshed after a day of doing absolutely nothing except watch TV we felt anxious to get going again. With a break from the weatehr and the rain now turning to humidity we continued to New Orleans. It ended up being a pleasant ride in to the city as we followed the Bike-Levee Pathway all the way to Tulane where we were staying with some new friends at the University. Mel and the rest of the gang showed us a great time. We felt we got to experience New Orleans to the fullest and to relive the college days we enjoyed (well the college days Alison enjoyed anyway). If they say that there is a pork chop in every beer then during our stay I must have drunk a pig. The following day we would sweat it all out as we explored the most amazing architecture along St Charles avenue on foot and by rail-cart. The parklands, namely Audubon Park, were lush and thoroughly enjoyable. The city was alive with people, music and food. Even the urine and vomit smelling Bourbon street has some interesting sights to see and even more interesting people/vendors to watch. Some people here would even give the weird performers of Austin a run for their money. It was a great place to experience and a special place to celebrate Alison's Birthday.
It is an unusual feeling when you ride for such a long time and then take some time off. You begin to experience withdrawals. We could have easily enjoyed more of the hospitality offered by Mel, Isabel, Carolyn and Maddy but our legs were ready for more mileage and as we have done so many times before started to pedal once again.
So it was a day of mixed emotions leaving the comforts of Texas that we had grown used to over the past two weeks as we entered Louisiana. This also meant that we would begin to explore a new state and get to experience the "real south." You would think that there was a transition between the cultures as you entered the new state but it felt as though the differences were apparent immediately. There were seasonal flowers blooming everywhere that brought with it itchy eyes and runny noses. Unfortunately Alison suffered more from hayfever than myself. The air thickened with moisture in such a way that the slight movement of changing gears brought with it a rush of sweat from volcanic pores that had, up until this point, remained relatively dorment. Accents became thicker and at times difficult to understand. Vegetation and life sprung from every crevice and insects began to appear and bite. You know there are going to be interesting roads ahead when they need to be mowed more than they need a resurface. Perhaps Texas had made us a little soft, or perhaps that was just all the Blue Bell ice-cream we had consumed.
DeRidder was our first place to stay in Louisiana. It was a quaint town with the architecture beginning to show the signs of the various European (French, English and Spanish) influences that seems prominent through this part of the South. The following day we woke to the humidity and begun to pack up our damp things, acknowledging this would be the norm for the remainder of our trip. We continued our ride through many country roads with minimal traffic and minimal signs of road maintenance. The foilage was thick and the wild flowers romantisized the experience. It was relatively easy riding given that there was not too many hills to tackle. We passed through rice and/or crawfish fields (they would alternate the use of these fields) and entered the heart of Cajun territory near the town of Mamou. Cajun as we would learn comes from shortening/slurring of the term Acadian, which was used to describe the unwanted French who were relocated here from Nova Scotia some time in the 1700's. It was in a doughnut shop that we were informed that the famous Cajun cuisine was adapted more from the slaves used in the region and that this style of cooking (she referred to as Creole) was more spicy and flavourful. Regardless Alison and I were keen to sample all types of dishes, just as soon as we finished eating the half dozen or so doughnuts we had just bought.
We continued onward along old farm roads through many cute little communities, many of the streets still covered with Mardi Gras beads. Eventually, after making a wrong turn costing us an extra five mile or so, we came to our camp ground on the banks of a Bayou in Washington, LA. The check-in for the camping was a bar and somehow instead of paying our fees (which we would pay later) we found ourselves talking to the proprietor and drinking a beer. The place to eat in town was the Steamboat Warehouse (it was also the only restaurant) and we enjoyed our first Cajun meal. It was delicious! We ate catfish, gumbo, loaded potatoes and Cajun spiced pork chops. It was a good thing that we cycled 90 plus miles that day. We decided to add on a stroll that evening through the streets with some of the nicest colonial houses we had seen.
Reluctantly, the following day we had to leave but we were happy to find many similar communities lay ahead. One interesting comparison is that instead of the communities being called Counties they were now called Parishes. The reasons were becoming more evident as in some places there seemed to be more Churches than housing, each with their own notice board and message. We eventually came to Simmesport. Unfortunately this parish was not as affluent as some of the others we were in, as we were told by a local shop assistant. His views were a little closed as he continued in a rather racist manner describing why the parish was such a bad place to live. As soon as we could leave him to his thoughts we settled on the outskirts of town in a community park where cross-country cyclists tend to camp. Having a fair bit of time to waste we started our evening grazing. I am not sure how it came about but Alison decided to add 8 pieces of Southern fried chicken to our usual large serving of dinner. It was great to eat but the salt content was rather high. We ended up drinking about 4 litres of water so we wouldn't turn into raisins. The next day we would proceed to relieve our selves of this extra fluid as we continued toward the Mississippi River.
The river was high and dirty. I was almost expecting Huckelberry Finn to go floating past. We waited with commuters for the ferry to cross to the Eastern side of the river. On the other side fo the river we had a short road in to the town of St Francisville. We decided to have an early splurge for Alison's birthday here and it seemed like there could be no better place to enjoy a rest day. The cotton plantation industry has long since dried up in these regions but their huge mansions and houses remain. We stayed in a bed and breakfast close to town so that we could enjoy walks around town and bike rides out (that right we road around 30 miles or so on our days off) to the newly refurbished plantations. It would not quite be a true indulgence without good food. St Francisville did not disappoint. We had an awesome meal at a place called 8 Sisters (opened initially by, you guessed it, 8 sisters) and returned the following day for a repeat. Our breakfasts at our accommodation were also second to none and it was great to have something different to rolled oats. This also provided a great place to plan our next stage of the ride.
As our route does not take us to New Orleans, and this is certainly a place we were keen to visit, we had to find out how to get there. The route we took was to re-cross the Mississippi and follow the western banks then to cross once again as we neared the outskirts of New Orleans. The main impetus was to bypass Baton Rouge that has a bad reputation for being bike unfriendly, or so we had heard. The only sour note was that the route was going to add around 300miles on to our current tally. Our halfway point on the western bank was Donaldsonville. The ride was quite pleasant and the roads we researched were relatively quiet. For a small three-four mile portion there was some roadworks that forced us to hitch a ride in a utility vehicle to pass. As we neared our destination the skies began to darken to the east and rain began to fall. There was a huge storm threatening to unleash at any moment. We managed to pull in to a small motel on the north side of Donalsonville just as the rain turned in to a waterfall and the sky began unleash in a fury of lightning attacks. It was here that we would wait out a storm for a day or so.
Refreshed after a day of doing absolutely nothing except watch TV we felt anxious to get going again. With a break from the weatehr and the rain now turning to humidity we continued to New Orleans. It ended up being a pleasant ride in to the city as we followed the Bike-Levee Pathway all the way to Tulane where we were staying with some new friends at the University. Mel and the rest of the gang showed us a great time. We felt we got to experience New Orleans to the fullest and to relive the college days we enjoyed (well the college days Alison enjoyed anyway). If they say that there is a pork chop in every beer then during our stay I must have drunk a pig. The following day we would sweat it all out as we explored the most amazing architecture along St Charles avenue on foot and by rail-cart. The parklands, namely Audubon Park, were lush and thoroughly enjoyable. The city was alive with people, music and food. Even the urine and vomit smelling Bourbon street has some interesting sights to see and even more interesting people/vendors to watch. Some people here would even give the weird performers of Austin a run for their money. It was a great place to experience and a special place to celebrate Alison's Birthday.
It is an unusual feeling when you ride for such a long time and then take some time off. You begin to experience withdrawals. We could have easily enjoyed more of the hospitality offered by Mel, Isabel, Carolyn and Maddy but our legs were ready for more mileage and as we have done so many times before started to pedal once again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)